ENH: Relax the Python package version requirements

Relax the Python package version requirements: use `>=` so that newer
package version can be used. Especially relevant for the package to work
with newer Python versions.

Add a test case to the GHA workflow to test the minimum required
versions.

.github/workflows/test_package.yaml

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest]
         python-version: ['3.8']
+        requires: ['minimal', 'latest']
 
     steps:
     - name: Check out repository
@@ -24,6 +25,12 @@ jobs:
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
 
+    - name: Set min. dependencies
+      if: matrix.requires == 'minimal'
+      run: |
+        python -c "req = open('requirements.txt').read().replace(' >= ', ' == ') ; open('requirements.txt', 'w').write(req)"
+        python -c "req = open('setup.py').read().replace(' >= ', ' == ') ; open('setup.py', 'w').write(req)"
+
     # - name: Cache pip
     #   uses: actions/cache@v2
     #   id: cache

requirements.txt

@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-cython==0.29.*
-joblib==1.1.*
-matplotlib==3.6.*
-nibabel==3.0.*
-numpy==1.20.*
-pandas==2.0.3
-setuptools==44.0.*
-scipy==1.4.*
-statsmodels==0.10.*
-vtk==9.1.*
+cython>=0.29.0
+joblib>=1.1.0
+matplotlib>=3.6.0
+nibabel>=3.0.0
+numpy>=1.20.0
+pandas>=2.0.3
+setuptools>=44.0.0
+scipy>=1.4.0
+statsmodels>=0.10.0
+vtk>=9.1.0
 xlrd

setup.py

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def build_extensions(self):
             external_dependencies.append(dependency)
 
 
-setup_requires = ['cython==0.29.*', 'numpy==1.20.*']
+setup_requires = ['cython>=0.29.0', 'numpy>=1.20.0']
 setup(
     name='WhiteMatterAnalysis',
     version='0.3.0',